The Background of Gray's Elegy: A Study in the Taste for Melancholoy Poetry, 1700-1751 |
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Page 4
... same subject . ( Vol . I , pp . 26–31 . ) If the reader doubt the need of such a work , Democritus Junior will " desire him to make a brief survey of the world . . . . Thou shalt soon perceive that 4 " " THE BACKGROUND OF GRAY'S " ELEGY.
... same subject . ( Vol . I , pp . 26–31 . ) If the reader doubt the need of such a work , Democritus Junior will " desire him to make a brief survey of the world . . . . Thou shalt soon perceive that 4 " " THE BACKGROUND OF GRAY'S " ELEGY.
Page 5
... Thou shalt soon perceive that all the world is mad , that it is melancholy , dotes , " which he proceeds to prove by illustration , in language distantly parallel to Shakespeare's Sonnet 66 , and sometimes quoting directly from ...
... Thou shalt soon perceive that all the world is mad , that it is melancholy , dotes , " which he proceeds to prove by illustration , in language distantly parallel to Shakespeare's Sonnet 66 , and sometimes quoting directly from ...
Page 17
... thou force God to second thy irreligious melancholy , and to condemne thee at last , because thou hadst precondemned thy selfe , and renounced his mercy ? 18 He denounces " the sick soul . " 19 Let no man , he says , . present his ...
... thou force God to second thy irreligious melancholy , and to condemne thee at last , because thou hadst precondemned thy selfe , and renounced his mercy ? 18 He denounces " the sick soul . " 19 Let no man , he says , . present his ...
Page 43
... thou shalt not be , why dost thou not too grieve that there was a time in the which thou wast not ? . . . For , not to have been a thousand years before this moment , is as much to be deplored , as not to be a thousand after it , the ...
... thou shalt not be , why dost thou not too grieve that there was a time in the which thou wast not ? . . . For , not to have been a thousand years before this moment , is as much to be deplored , as not to be a thousand after it , the ...
Page 45
... thou shalt lie when death has claimed thee ? Where they lie who were never born . " 66 We have seen that Lucretius , in his attempt to do away with the fear of death , had used as one argument that life was in itself either wretched or ...
... thou shalt lie when death has claimed thee ? Where they lie who were never born . " 66 We have seen that Lucretius , in his attempt to do away with the fear of death , had used as one argument that life was in itself either wretched or ...
Common terms and phrases
Addison admired Aeneid Akenside beauty blank verse Burton Chalmers choly classical Collins Contemplation Cowley dead death delight Democritus describes disease divine Dryden edition eighteenth century Elegy Elizabeth Carter English Poets Essays evidently expression fear feeling Flatman friends Georgics gloom grave Gray Grongar Hill happy heaven Horace horror human Hymn Ibid idea Il Penseroso imitation influence James Thomson John John Dryden L'Allegro Lady letters lines literary literature live London Lucretius lyric meditation melan Milton mind Miscellany Poems mood moral mournful muse nature Night Thoughts o'er Parnell's passage passion Penseroso pensive philosophy Pindaric pleasure poet poet's Poetical Pope popular prose published readers reading reflection religious retirement satiric scene Seasons seventeenth century shade Shaftesbury Shakespeare Shenstone sleep solitary solitude soul stanza Statius storm taste themes Theocles Thomson thou thro Tibullus tion tomb translation verse virtue Warton Watts Winter Young
Popular passages
Page 207 - Secure whate'er he gives, he gives the best. Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires, And strong devotion to the skies aspires, Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, Obedient passions, and a will resigned ; For love, which scarce collective man can fill ; For patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill ; For faith, that, panting for a happier seat, Counts death kind nature's signal of retreat...
Page 7 - I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil : and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, — As he is very potent with such spirits, — Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: — the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Page 112 - ... though I am always serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can therefore take , a view of nature, in her deep and solemn scenes, with the same pleasure as in her most gay and delightful ones.
Page 116 - How lov'd, how honour'd once, avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot ; A heap of dust alone remains of thee, 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be ! Poets themselves must fall, like those they sung, Deaf the prais'd ear, and mute the tuneful tongue.
Page 50 - The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things ; There is no armour against fate ; Death lays his icy hand on kings : Sceptre and crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Page 239 - Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul : And, dashing soft from rocks around, Bubbling runnels joined the sound ; Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole, Or, o'er some haunted stream, with fond delay, Round an holy calm diffusing, Love of peace, and lonely musing In hollow murmurs died away.
Page 154 - Wisely regardful of the embroiling sky, In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man His annual visit. Half afraid, he first Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor, Eyes all the smiling family askance, And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is! Till, more familiar grown, the table crumbs Attract his slender feet.
Page 58 - I saw plainly all the paint of that kind of life, the nearer I came to it; and that beauty, which I did not fall in love with, when, for aught I knew, it was real, was not like to bewitch or entice me, when I saw that it was adulterate.
Page 111 - I felt at that time : but I could, without tears, reflect upon many pleasing adventures I have had with some, who have long been blended with common earth. Though it is by the benefit of nature, that length of time thus blots out the violence of afflictions ; yet with tempers too much given to pleasure, it is almost necessary to...
Page 118 - Through rocks amidst the foaming sea, To gain thy love, and then perceives Thou wert not in the rocks and waves. The silent heart which grief assails, Treads soft and lonesome o'er the vales, Sees daisies open, rivers run, And seeks, as I have vainly done, Amusing thought ; but learns to know That solitude 's the nurse of woe.